With the number of professionals travelling to Melbourne on business growing year on year (as highlighted in our recent article detailing the top serviced apartments in Melbourne), the city offers an array of activities, attractions and amenities for corporate travellers to enjoy. To ensure your business trip to Melbourne is optimised to be a most enjoyable and productive experience, we have compiled our 7 tips you need to know when travelling to Australia’s ‘second city’.
1. Get a Myki card
To get around the city with ease, purchasing a Myki card is essential. Even if you like to utilise taxis when travelling between appointments, a Myki card offers the additional convenience of being able to jump on a train, tram or bus without jostling for coins and tickets. The Myki card lets you simply ‘touch on’ and ‘tap off’ when using the city’s public transportation, and can be set to either deduct fares from your account as you travel, or assign a monetary limit for the duration of your stay. When travelling to Melbourne on business, purchasing a Myki card from a booth or retailer before exploring the city and meeting colleagues is vital – especially as the card cannot be purchased in-journey.
2. Be prepared for all weathers
Unlike the reliably sunny Sydney, Melbourne has an unpredictable climate. Prone to temperamental weather systems, the city often experiences a range of weather types in a single day – from strong winds and showers to moments of brilliant sunshine. Depending on your preference for heat or more temperate conditions (consider the pros and cons of each in our blog comparing Melbourne and its rival city), you may prefer Melbourne’s cooler climate, especially when rushing between business appointments. In either case, being prepared with a sufficiently diverse wardrobe is essential when travelling to Melbourne on business. A good waterproof jacket and umbrella will ensure you won’t be caught out by surprise showers, and a change of summer clothes means you will be able to enjoy the sunny warm spells, perhaps even taking a trip to a nearby beach.
3. Sample the Cafe Culture
Although the beauty of our SilverDoor serviced apartments in Melbourne is the inclusion of a kitchen for whipping up a delicious meal in the comfort of your own space, Melbourne offers a world-renowned café culture, meaning a spot of brunch is essential during your business trip to the city. With cafés on virtually every corner offering 'the best coffee in the world', enjoying a delicious breakfast is made easy, especially as most cafés serve fresh breakfast until 2pm or later. With refreshing ‘full English’ alternatives, such as avocado on toast or tasty, freshly prepared wraps, available wherever you go, making time to sample Melbourne’s delicious breakfasts should be high on your agenda during your stay in the city.
For a breakfast with a difference, try out the Japanese themed Ima café.
4. Follow Escalator Etiquette
Although the Australian vehicle lane system matches Britain’s, the country takes a different approach regarding escalator etiquette. To avoid causing a pile-up on your ride up the steps in Melbourne, be sure to stand on the left if you want to take a break. Overtaking takes place on the right-hand side on steps, just as it does on the roads. An escalator on which to take special care is that of Parliament Station, which boasts the longest escalators in the Southern Hemisphere. With frequent falls occurring on the infamously disorientating moving steps, we advise standing to the left, holding on tight and waiting to disembark!
5. Explore solo-dining venues
With our luxurious serviced apartments in Melbourne, the option to stay in and make use of your kitchen and dining area when you haven’t made arrangements with colleagues is always a welcome one. However, Melbourne’s excellent array of solo-dining venues means leaving the apartment for an evening meal alone is well worth considering. Restaurants such as the Spanish MoVida offers a range of individual portion dishes within a sleek, but informal, space – perfect for casual solo meals. A friendly bar-front allows for meeting other diners in a convivial atmosphere.
Continuing the international theme, Pastuso offers contemporary Peruvian food in a bright and lively venue – perfect for a solo bite and a well-deserved glass of wine. The beauty of Melbourne’s streets, though, is that you can find a superb solo-dining venue on virtually any street, with Flinders Lane being a prime example of a street teeming with quality restaurants for the solo-diner.
6. Don't bug the bugs
Melbourne’s CBD may not bring to mind exotic Australian wildlife or adventures of the outback, but travelling to Melbourne on business may well expose you to some dangerous creatures along the way. With beautiful rural locations nearby, such as parks, beaches and islands, the likelihood of bumping into a potentially deadly spider or venomous snake increases with each step into the wilderness you take. Harmful spiders such as the White-tailed spider and Redback spider can be common in outside areas – so if you run into any make sure you give them a wide berth! Similarly, if you do go swimming in the bay, be wary of sharks and jellyfish which populate the warm waters.
7. Take an unforgettable day trip
If you’ve not been put off by the prospect of encountering a dangerous arachnid or serpent, a day trip is a fantastic way of making the most of your stay when travelling to Melbourne on business. For a road trip to remember, hire a car and head south to Great Ocean Road. This 243-kilometre road will have you travelling along the south-eastern coast of Australia, and provides spectacular views of the ocean, as well as opportunities to get close to Koala bears and Platypus.
Get in touch with your wild side with a trip to Lorne. The area offers an array of natural wonders, from the Kalimna Falls trail to the Great Otway National Park. You can also visit Qdos Arts to see the changing art of the area or visit the area in March to witness the Lorne Sculpture Biennial – where sculptures are displayed along the foreshore in an unforgettable outdoor installation.
However, you choose to enjoy your business trip to the city, be sure to stay at one of our SilverDoor serviced apartments in Melbourne and experience the convenience and comfort our service provides.
